Coca-Cola to cut bottle size but put up prices in bid to beat sugar tax
COCA-COLA is to make its bottles smaller and hike its prices in a bid to beat the sugar tax.
The cost of some packs of the drink sold in newsagents and convenience shops will increase by more than ten per cent in March.
Its 1.75ltr bottles will shrink to 1.5ltr and go up 20p to £1.99, while a 500ml bottle is also going up from £1.09 to £1.25, the drinks giant confirmed.
Coca-Cola’s plans will be rolled out just before the sugar tax — designed to beat childhood obesity — comes into effect.
From April, manufacturers will be taxed at 18p on drinks containing 5g of sugar or more per 100ml — and a higher 24p rate on those with more than 8g per 100ml.
The move will apply to one in five soft drinks sold in the UK and it's estimated the tax will raise around £520million.
Some drinks firms including Irn-Bru makers AG Barr will avoid being hit by the tax by changing their recipes.
Irn-Bru is to contain less sugar and more artificial sweeteners — angering fans who have begun stockpiling it.
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But a Coca-Cola spokesperson said it had not plans to change the recipe of its classic fizzy drink: "We have no plans to change the recipe of Coca-Cola Classic so it will be impacted by the Government’s soft drinks tax,"
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"People love the taste and have told us not to change.
"We are in ongoing discussions with customers about the impact of the Government’s soft drinks tax on Coca-Cola Classic.
"These discussions include reviewing the pack sizes offered to consumers and our approach to price-marked packs.
";As is always the case, our customers will have to decide the retail prices in their outlets."
The tax was first announced by then chancellor George Osborne at his final Budget in March 2016 and is meant to help tackle child obesity in the UK.
But some have accused it of being nothing more than a "stealth tax" on the poor and could potentially cost up to 4,000 jobs.
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